MA Radius

[Andy.M]

Hi, after many years reading What Hi-Fi I have finally decided on which surround sound speakers to buy.

i have decided to go for the new Monitor Audio Radius90HT1. Winning the recent award for style speakers upto £1500 sealed it for me.

My question is would upgrading the front surrounds to the R270 floor standers give any improvements.

Anyone's thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

Andy.

 

[bigboss]

Yes, it's definitely worth it. I demoed the Radius 270HD (the previous model), and that was far superior to Radius 90HD.

 

[Leeps]

The R270HD's do alter the overall tonal balance of the system slightly to provide a lusher fuller sound with a more hearty midrange in particular. It does just take the edge off the degree of speed & attack though compared with the R90HD's, but keeping these for rear surround duties maintains some off that enthusiasm with steering effects.

I would say if you want to play music in pure direct stereo, the R270HD's simply provide a greater dynamic range and quite a surprising degree of bass for such slender cabinets. The same advantage proves true as soon as a movie soundtrack gets underway. They just feel like they're never stressed regardless of what they're asked to deliver.

however, I would take care with speaker positioning. The 270's are rear ported and don't react too well being close to a rear wall. Mine are about 400 to 450mm from the back wall. If you have a small room, or just have to have the speakers close to a wall, I'd either stick with the Radius 90's or maybe go Apex A10's / Apex A40 for the front three if you can stretch to that.

 

[KeithT]

I'm using the R270 fronts at the moment (having upgraded from BX5s) and they're very good speakers, they are still running in but I have high hopes for them. In the next couple of weeks I'll put the R90s in as my rear speakers